DBS hits record high above $47; CDL up after director Philip Yeo announces resignation

SINGAPORE – Shares of DBS Bank crested an all-time high of $47.05 on July 18 before ending the week slightly lower at $46.99.

More than 4.2 million DBS shares changed hands that day, when Singapore’s largest bank was named World’s Best Bank by Euromoney for the third time since 2019.

Just a day earlier, on July 17, RHB analysts in a research report reiterated their “buy” call on DBS with a $47 target price.

However, they also warned of increased share price volatility for DBS, citing the bank’s large loan book and the elevated valuation of its shares compared with their book value.

Another stalwart of the Straits Times Index, City Developments Limited (CDL), jumped 6.3 per cent on July 16, following news that

long-serving director Philip Yeo would step down from the board.

The veteran former civil servant’s last day with CDL will be July 31.

The move marks a turning point in the uneasy stalemate between chief executive Sherman Kwek and his father, Mr Kwek Leng Beng, with whom Mr Yeo had been aligned in a feud on board composition and corporate governance.

Observers said the move could be a step towards unlocking greater shareholder value as the younger Mr Kwek will be able to chart the company’s direction more assertively.

CDL’s shares closed on July 18 at $5.90, up 8.7 per cent through the week.

Centurion reveals plans for new Reit

Shares of Centurion Corp closed the week at $1.73, down more than 6.4 per cent from the all-time high of $1.85 on July 14.

The accommodation provider last week moved ahead with plans to list a real estate investment trust (Reit) on the Singapore Exchange (SGX) mainboard.

It announced on July 14 the name of the Reit – Centurion Accommodation Reit – and an initial portfolio of 14 properties that Centurion will divest from its books as the Reit sponsor.

The portfolio will comprise five purpose-built worker accommodation assets in Singapore, eight purpose-built student accommodation assets in Britain and one in Australia.

A new upmarket student accommodation property will be added to the Reit as its 15th asset once it is ready for occupation, bringing the total portfolio value to $2.1 billion.

Centurion Accommodation Reit’s listing is still pending approval by SGX and the Monetary Authority of Singapore.

Phillip Securities Research’s Chong Yik Ban told The Straits Times the Reit would need to offer a target yield of 7.3 per cent to 7.7 per cent to be attractive to prospective investors.

This is because Singapore banks pay an average dividend yield of about 6.7 per cent, and investors would demand a higher yield for the additional risk they take to buy a newly listed Reit.

Mr Chong noted that newly listed NTT DC Reit, which comprises data centre assets and is backed by Japanese telco giant NTT, has forecast an annualised yield of 7.5 per cent for the nine months from July 1, 2025, to March 31, 2026.

This sets a benchmark for Centurion’s new Reit, in which it will hold a 35 per cent to 40 per cent stake, to meet or exceed.

Mr Chong said the new Reit is potentially capable of achieving similar yields.

Based on projections, Centurion aims for the Reit to distribute 100 per cent of its annual distributable income from the listing date until 2027.

Lim & Tan Securities’ Chan En Jie told ST that investors will most likely look out for attractive returns and stable payouts from each Reit unit when evaluating their options in an environment where interest rates are falling.

He noted that the growth in workers’ dormitories reflects the robust construction demand expected in Singapore over the next few years.

But Mr Chong warned that if tightened, student visa restrictions could hurt demand for student properties in the Reit.

Aviation, offshore and marine counters rally

Shares of Singapore Airlines gained 2.2 per cent over the week to close at a one-year high of $7.44. The carrier posted its June operating results earlier in the week, reporting a 4.5 per cent year-on-year increase in passenger traffic. The growth outpaced the expansion in passenger capacity, buoyed by the start of the summer travel season and Singapore’s mid-year school holidays.

Shares of in-flight caterer and ground-handling company Sats as well as SIA Engineering, which provides aircraft maintenance, repair and overhaul, also rose.

Sats closed on July 18 at $3.27, up 4.8 per cent through the week, while SIA Engineering closed at $3.34, up 3.1 per cent over the same period.

Offshore engineering giant Seatrium, meanwhile, surged 12.8 per cent, closing the week at $2.38. The company has started to deliver the first of six floating production storage and offloading vessels to Brazilian state-owned oil company Petrobras.

Other offshore and marine stocks also saw strong gains.

Vessel operator Marco Polo Marine surged more than 20 per cent to 5.5 cents a share for the week, its highest in more than five months, with over 160 million shares changing hands on July 18. Mermaid Maritime is also up, rising 9.6 per cent through the week to close at 13 cents.

CH Offshore rose 20 per cent to 1.8 cents last week after completing its rights issue. In a July 18 report, Lim & Tan analysts noted that the vessel operator is “extremely undervalued”, making it an “ideal privatisation candidate”.

Other market movers

NTT DC Reit ended its first week of trading on a weak note, as investors weighed its costly artificial intelligence ambitions against an uncertain outlook amid ongoing tariff concerns.

While the Reit’s public offer, the largest on the SGX in a decade, was 9.8 times oversubscribed, its units ended flat at US$1 (S$1.29) on their July 14 debut. They closed the week at 95 US cents, down by almost 6 per cent.

In contrast, China Medical System surged 11.2 per cent to close at $2.28 on its July 15 debut, up from an initial offer price of $2.05 for the secondary listing of the Hong Kong-listed pharmaceutical firm.

Home-grown fabricator BRC Asia announced after the market close on July 14 that it had secured $570 million worth of contracts for Changi Airport Terminal 5. Its shares surged to $3.71, climbing more than 11 per cent from the start of the week.

Semiconductor firm Frencken also posted a strong performance, with its stock peaking at $1.49 during the week before settling at $1.45 on July 18, its highest since announcing plans in June for a larger facility in Kaki Bukit.

Shares of PC Partner, seen as a proxy for US-listed Nvidia, rose 13.7 per cent through the week to close on July 18 at $1.33. PC Partner, which is also listed in Hong Kong, distributes electronics that use Nvidia graphics cards.

Nvidia shares are trading at an all-time high above US$174 after the company said on July 16 it expects to resume sales of its less-advanced H20 artificial intelligence chips to China after a three-month pause.

What to look out for this week

Property revitalisation firm Lum Chang Creations is expected to start trading on July 21 on Catalist.

A total of one million shares offered to the Singapore public at 25 cents each were 47.3 times oversubscribed.

The company raised total gross proceeds of $12.25 million from the offering, resulting in a market capitalisation of $78.75 million.

UOB Kay Hian has initiated coverage on the company with a buy call and a target price of 39 cents.